Story of a Princess
by Kaori-chan
Summary: A lonely girl, a friendly spirit, and the dreamlike night that brings them together. COME ON!!!! R+R!!!! It's good, I PROMISE!


¤ Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda. Like anyone will think that I do.  
  
The first rays of sunlight broke over the mountains and dawned, in a mixture of red and gold, into a bright, golden morning. The sunlight glanced off the early morning mists that rolled like a silver sea over the well-tended lawns and licked the walls of Hyrule Castle.  
  
High and impenetrable rose those cold, grayish stone walls, the early sunlight still just catching the very tops f the many turrets and towers. The brightly colored banners fluttered in the early breeze.  
  
I stood at the window, looking down on that sea of mists and watching the soldiers change watch. Every morning at sunrise the night watch is relieved by the daytime watch, and vice versa at sundown. I looked down on this, watching the discipline and precision of the castle guards, the mist collecting on their armor in little beads that shone like stars in the sunlight, until it seemed as if they were clad all in diamonds instead of chain mail. Sometimes I wish I were like them, free to go almost anywhere (except on duty), instead of being trapped inside. And that's how it feels. Trapped. Yes, I am allowed to go in the castle courtyard, but only the courtyard-not the surrounding gardens, and even then with legions of guards between me and the "outside". All my life I was told that it was to protect the Princess. I am Zelda, the Princes of Hyrule.  
  
"Zelda? Zelda?! ZELDA!" I started. Impa was standing in the doorway. "Zelda, you're daydreaming again." She smiled. Impa knows that my mind tends to wander when left on its own. I think I get it from her-even though she doesn't say anything about it, I have often seen her staring dazedly out the window exactly like what she caught me doing this morning. I smiled. "Just watching the guards," I said. "I'm sure," she answered, half sarcastically. "It's time to get dressed. Let's go." I followed Impa out of the room.  
  
Impa is one of the Shadow People, the Sheikah. The Sheikah are rarely seen, except by the members of the Royal Family, and, therefore, are very mysterious. It is said that the Sheikah people are the shadows of us Hylians, I think it is more likely to be the other way around. Either way, the Sheikah people serve and protect the Royal Family. Therefore, there are many living at the castle. Impa is my guardian, my sworn protector. She has been that all my life, or as least as long as I can remember.  
  
I followed Impa down the hall. As I went, I looked at the stone walls and the stone floor. I had never realized before how much stone is took to build the castle. It all seems so cold and hard and not like a home should be. I used to be afraid to go down that corridor, when I was little and before the nice runner carpet was placed there to prevent peoples' footsteps from echoing so much. We turned to go into the dressing rooms.  
  
Whoever started wearing gold ornamentations on their clothing certainly didn't do it for comfort. The gold is shaped and formed into jewelry and intricate designs so that it looks great but is heavy and therefore very uncomfortable to wear. But I'm used to it, so it doesn't bother me that much. Don't get me wrong-I know I am very lucky to be as well off as I am, but all that comes at a great price. There is no one my age at the castle, no little children to look after, and no one that has enough time to just sit and TALK-not about anything in particular, just to communicate with another person. Even Impa rarely has time to talk.  
  
"Zelda! What are you doing? Come on!" I came back to reality to find that I was staring out the window again, daydreaming. Then I saw what had caused me to feel so lonely. I was looking south over the lawn and out into Hyrule Castle Town. It is the main town in Hyrule, so it is always very busy. I could hear all the people even from here.  
  
"ZELDA!" Impa was getting impatient, and there is one thing you should NEVER do: make a Sheikah angry. "Coming, Impa," I said, and turned to follow her downstairs. "Talon is arriving with more milk today," Impa was telling me. I could have jumped for joy! Lon Lon Ranch is famous for their delicious (not to mention nutritious) milk. But it wasn't the milk I was excited about. People coming to the castle means I will get to talk, even if it is just a little, and Mr. Talon is especially nice-he even got me a pet cucco for my sixth birthday! I always look forward to seeing him- especially now, especialy when I'm feeling especially lonely.  
  
I heard the drawbridge being lowered outside. Talon had arrived. Suddenly I realized that I had lost an earring! I had to do something-and fast. I quickly pulled my hair over one shoulder so that it covered my ear. Just in time, because the door opened and in came Mr. Talon.  
  
"Good morning, Mr. Talon!" I curtsied. "It certainly is!" he answered. "It's promisin' to be an even better one, too, by the looks of it!" I nodded. It certainly was. was just about to ask him about his daughter when a soldier came in and told Mr. Talon to bring the milk around to the side-door and into the storerooms. "It was a pleasure to see you, Mr. Talon," I curtsied again. "The pleasure was mine, lil' lady," he answered. He reached to tip his hat, realized he didn't have one, nodded politely, and left.  
  
I had heard that Mr. Talon had a daughter, and I wanted to know more about her. How old was she? Was she nice? What was she like? Little did I realize how good it was that I wanted to know all that.  
  
I still don't know what had come over me that day. I couldn't seem to keep my mind on anything at all. I couldn't even focus on my lessons. All I could think about was what it would be like to live outside the castle grounds, and to have real friends my own age. I had only one escape: music.  
  
I sat in the courtyard playing my ocarina, letting all my cares and worries flow out of me in the ocarina's serene tones. There is something very calming about my ocarina, it is often the best therapy after a long day. I can sit for hours with that ocarina, sending its song up, up, away to soar and dance among the clouds that sail across Hyrule's sapphire-blue sky. But the sky wasn't so blue today, after all. Huge dark storm clouds hung low over the castle, billowing and rolling, heavy with anticipation of the storm to come. The wind began to blow, gradually picking up speed until it was tearing across the courtyard, whipping around the towers, and speeding off into the gardens.  
  
I didn't have much time to get shelter. I clutched my ocarina to my chest and began to run. In a few great bounds I had crossed the courtyard and ducked inside the archway that leads to the gardens. There was a door on my right. This I yanked open and then slammed shut behind me. I could hear the rain lashing against the castle walls, tossed upon the wind as if it were nothing more than a feather on the winds of a hurricane.  
  
It wasn't until now that I noticed that I was soaked through. The rain must have started before I could get under the arch. I looked around. I was in one of the many store-rooms in the palace. Fortunately for me it was where the blankets and various other linens were kept. I began searching, and eventually found a blanket that would be suitable as a towel. Once I was dry as I could get I noticed a stack of pillows in a corner, and some blankets on the floor beside it. This looked like a good place to rest until the storm was over, so I settled down on those pillows with a blanket wrapped about me. It was the softest blanket I had ever seen (or felt), and the pillows made is feel as if I were lying on clouds. Slowly, my head began to nod…  
  
"Hey! Over here! I found her!" I woke with a start. The late afternoon sun was gleaming in rays of gold. There was no sign of the storm, except that the steam was rising in a fine mist that was colored gold by the sun. In fact, everything was colored gold, including the armor of the soldier standing above me in the doorway. "Are you all right, Princess?" he asked. "What happened?" "I'm fine," I answered. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. How long have I been here?" "Well…"he looked puzzled. "It's been an hour since you were first noticed missing, if that's what you mean. But if you mean 'How long was it since I fell asleep?'…Well, Miss, I don't know the answer to that. But come now, Princess, it's time to go now. The King's new ally is going to speak to the court, and we must be there." I didn't want to go, but I had to. It turned out to be very boring. All this man did was talk (very redundantly) for about an hour. But it wasn't the speech I was interested in. There was something very unsettling about this man. Just his voice made me uncomfortable. I could sense something wrong about him. I felt very strongly that it wasn't really a friendship with Hyrule that he wanted. I would not speak to him.  
  
That night was the clearest I had known in a long time. The stars were bright and sharp: diamonds strewn upon a sky of black velvet. The full moon rose into the sky a ghostly teardrop shedding its silver light upon the world. It reflected silver-white off the guards' armor, glistening softly but brightly as they stood, still as statues in their alert, never- sleeping vigil. But one sound seemed out of place to me- softly it echoed across the sleeping lawns, yes it sounded sharp and clear in the quietness as the soft breeze caressed the sighing trees in the starlit night: someone was singing.  
  
I had to see who it was. Softly I crept across the silver moonlit floor in my room and pulled on a dark cloak. Pulling the hood over my face, I leaned out the open window. I could clearly see soldiers softly treading up and don the milk-white road. I couldn't go that way. Silently I swung my legs out the window and found a foothold on a narrow ledge overhanging a window on the floor below mine. Carefully I climbed down. It was difficult to find a hold on the smooth castle walls, so I often had to rely on the scarce scrambling vines that clung to the ledges and what few cracks there were in the massive stone walls.  
  
I had made it safely from the window. I looked around, seeking a way to get past the alert guards, two of which were watching the gate in front of the drawbridge. Slowly I crept along the very edge of the moat that surrounds most of the castle. It was over this that the drawbridge was lowered to admit visitors into the castle. One wrong step would send me into the icy water, drawing to myself the attention of the guards.  
  
I made it safely past the guards, but now I had to make it past the tall iron fence that enclosed the castle, standing about 12 feet out from the moat. Once again the answer was plants. A tree stood in a corner where the fence turned to hug a steep slope on the western side of the castle. Once I climbed this tree all I had to do was jump down to the other side. Once over I climbed the slope and stealthily crept across its steep bank so as to avoid the attention of the guards.  
  
Once I dropped down off the hill I discovered I was outside the main gate blocking the road to the palace. In order to keep the guard there from noticing me I snuck around a corner in the steep bank leading up to the castle grounds. It was there that I found her.  
  
A tall, red-haired girl was standing by the bank, singing. As soon as I turned the corner, however, she stopped.  
  
"Hello," she said. "By any chance, have you seen my father? He went to the Castle today to deliver some milk, and he hasn't come back." "So you're the rancher's daughter, aren't you?" I asked. "That's right. My name is Malon. You must be Princess Zelda." I smiled and removed my hood. "How did you know?" I asked. "It wasn't that hard," she answered. "First, you seem to be my age. Second, you're the only girl my age at the palace that I know of." She smiled. I smiled back. Soon we were talking as if we were old friends.  
  
Suddenly trumpets sounded. "Oh no!" I whispered. "I lost track of time! They know I'm missing! You better go, or you'll get in trouble." "Right." She nodded and ran back to the castle town. Just then I noticed that Malon had been standing in front of a vine that hung over the bank. I didn't have time to test it. I climbed up it as fast as I could and ran to the castle. I was in deep trouble. No one would believe that I was talking a walk (even though, in a way, I was). But that's a small price to pay for a good friend.  
  
From then on Malon came with her Father when he came to deliver milk, and Impa even persuaded my Father to let her attend classes here at the castle, and we had a constant correspondence.  
  
In the end, everything worked out, except that I was in trouble for leaving the castle without permission. But that didn't matter much, since I finally had a true friend, someone I could truly talk to.  
  
The End 


End file.
